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Legacy of war in Asia
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Letters | Churchill like Hitler? Now that’s a bizarre comparison

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Winston Churchill flashes his famous V-sign for victory, on January 1, 1950. Photo: AFP
Letters
I refer to the recent opinion piece on how Winston Churchill is to blame for 3 million Bengali deaths (“Churchill’s real Darkest Hour: new evidence confirms British leader’s role in murdering 3 million Bengalis”, April 12). Countless letters show his concern for the famine. The facts are Britain was at war. The Japanese were on the Indian border with Myanmar, indeed inside, in the then province of Assam. Mahatma Gandhi had started his “Quit India” movement for a voluntary British withdrawal, and revolutionary hero Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian national army were then fighting alongside the Japanese, with a true risk of a full-scale Japanese invasion.

The British RAF and army were fully stretched and the diversion of resources for an air lift would have risked countless more deaths. The case against Churchill collapses when we consider a war was going on. And it was a war started by Germany and Japan. As one historian puts it, we might even say that Churchill indirectly broke the Bengal famine by appointing as viceroy of India Lord Wavell, who mobilised the military to transport food and aid to the stricken regions.

To compare Churchill to Hitler is frankly bizarre, considering this is a man who stood alone against Nazi tyranny. The tragedy of the Bengal famine lies directly with the Germans and Japanese and their actions. To look elsewhere is sadly misguided and dangerous

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James Griffiths, Shek Tong Tsui

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